A Reason To Be There
by Shinku Ryuuga
Summary: A look into the daily lives of some people who've changed from how you know them.
1. Chapter 1

Walking down the sunlit streets of Twilight Town, a young man with blue eyes bops his head to a song. "Reaching foooor the lights..." His arms move a bit, his steps bouncing a bit as he listens to the song currently coming out of his headphones, connected to a phone in his pocket. "Hitsuyou nantenai, karaaa..." Grinning, he pauses a bit to actually dance on the sidewalk, not caring who may see him from any of the angles here.

Resuming his walk, he mouths the lyrics more as he reaches a corner, but stops as he almost bumps into someone. "Oh, sorry!" The blond steps to his right, letting the black-haired girl pass by. His music keeps going, the song restarting since he wanted to memorize this one today.

"That's alright. Have a good one." Two pairs of blue eyes pass each other as they hear his song go. "Sorerashii ketoba dake narabenaide." She quietly sings, the boy blinking a bit before thinking she had good taste in music too. His thoughts were echoed in the now giggling girl as she keeps on her way.

* * *

Roxas slips off his shoes as he walks into his home, turning his music off and bringing the headphones down. "Hey! I'm home!" He looks around, not seeing... oh, wait, there was his dad. Napping on the couch, as usual. Well, at least he wasn't in uniform this time. "Dad. Dad, wake up. You know mom'll get on you if you sleep here again."

The man with slightly shorter blond hair waves a sleepy hand. "Nngh... five more minutes." Roxas glances at the digital clock nearby. Dinner would be in about three hours.

"Mom's gonna be home in five minutes."

"WHAT?!" Ventus shoots up, looking around. "Ah, dangit, and I still gotta... gotta..." He starts to fall back to the couch.

"Whoa there! Come on, you." Roxas grins a bit as he helps his dad up. "Age finally catching up to you?"

"I'm not that old! Hmph!" Ventus looks down his nose a bit at his slightly taller son before chuckling. "So, when is she actually gonna be home?" He looks to the clock himself. "I still have an hour or so."

"Should probably shower still. You know she's gonna be a little miffed if you don't." Roxas sets about fluffing the pillows his dad had deformed with his head. His dad sighs a bit, agreeing before heading to the master bedroom on the first floor. The college student himself goes upstairs, aiming to reapply some deodorant before dinner.

* * *

Xion hums to herself as she walks into her home. "A reason to be there~"

Her sister looks over from the living room, headphones on so that her video game didn't send gunshots and profanity and military jargon through the apartment. "What's up?"

"Nothing, Namine. Hi, Namine. Mom or dad home?"

"Grocery shopping, still at work. Oh! You want pizza or pasta for dinner?"

"Yes."

"Pizza it is! ...right after I get in one las-dangit!" Having died, the blonde in a white dress and shorts picks up her phone to text her mother about Xion's answer to the question posed to her ten minutes ago. Namine drops the phone and readjusts her headset before focusing again.

Xion watches for a moment before losing interest in the soundless action. Heading to her room, the college dropout gingerly steps around some drawings that had managed to fall off Namine's side of the wall again. Pulling out her laptop from its charging 'station' under her bed, she starts to browse for some online jobs that would be easily done over the weekend.

* * *

"Roxas! Ven! I'm home!"

"Welcome back, mom!" Roxas starts walking downstairs, smiling a bit at the blue-haired woman who was dropping her hat and coat at the door. "Good day on the job?"

"Quiet day on patrol. Not sure how much I like them, no matter how much Terra thinks they're the best." The two share a hug before Aqua looks down to Roxas. "Your father awake?"

"Last I checked, no. But he should be in your room."

"Well, that's good at least." Aqua separates from her son to go to the master bedroom.

Roxas leans a bit over, a hand up to his ear as he waits for th-"COLD!" And that was his mom waking dad up. Roxas chuckles a bit as he heads to the kitchen. It was his turn to make dinner, and they'd agreed that it was steaks with rice tonight. Speaking of, in the cooker... looking good.

"Mmm~ Are we sure he's our son, Aqua? We weren't nearly as good at cooking at his age."

"Maybe _you_ weren't. But I remember putting together a rather nice spread one date night."

Ventus grasps his chest, feigning pain as he falls into his chair. The table had been set for an hour, the silverware brought over ten minutes ago. "So cruel..."

"Who wants what?"

"Water."  
"Do we have any daiquiri mix left?"

Roxas and Ventus look to Aqua, surprised at the question. "What? I'm off tomorrow, and I want to have a bit of fun tonight. Strawberry daiquiris are fun." She crosses her arms, daring them to refute her logic.

"...one bottle of water and one glass of daiquiri, coming up." For himself, Roxas got some lemonade. They'd all sworn off soda a long time ago, and they all felt better for it.

* * *

Xion gulps a bit as she watches her mother look at her dad. "...what do you mean he wants you to go out for drinks, Sora?"

"Riku wants to go out for drinks with me, Kairi. I don't know why this is such a big deal." The brunet slips off his tie as he and his wife head for their bedroom.

"It IS a big deal when he's changed since we graduated college. He flirted with Namine AFTER WE INTRODUCED HER TO HIM! What good childhood friend flirts with your teenage daughter minutes after they say hi? None!" Kairi was listing off the multitude of ways this was a bad idea to Sora as they closed the door. Xion looks to Namine, the two sisters confused a bit.

"But, family dinner night was Dad's idea..."

"And watching movies during it was his idea too."

"...to mention, the scandals that come out of his new employer. Even their name is shady! What kind of workplace is this Organization of his?!" Kairi grasps her more casually dressed husband by the shoulders. "Stay. Have some good pizza with us."

"Kairi, I can't! This is going to help me get higher up in the company, and it'll be good for us! Trust me." He kisses her nose, an action that calms the fiery beast that was the red-haired mother of two. "It'll be harmless."

But her face becomes stern again quickly. "Not one drop of alcohol, Sora. Not even a shot of anything."

"That, I can promise wholeheartedly. You know what happened the last time we got drunk." Unseen by their daughters, Kairi's eyes darted to a family picture hanging on the wall.

"Which is why-"

"Which isn't going to happen again. I'm my own designated driver, you've told me that enough times, Kairi." The two share a quick kiss before Sora waves to his girls. "Bye Xion, Namine! I'll be back later!"

As the door closes and locks, Kairi sighs before turning to them. "Well, guess we aren't seeing Pacific Rim: Uprising tonight. Who's up for something a little older? Like Getter Robo?"

"DIBS ON THE BEAM!"  
"DIBS ON THE CHANGE!"

The redhead laughs a bit as she goes to pop the pizza into the preheated oven. "Okay, okay. You two find where we put that DVD."


	2. Chapter 2

Xion walks through the mall, looking around. It was a fairly quiet day for her, even if the mall itself was as crowded as always. She was here to look for a new book, and the good bookstores didn't exist outside the mall anymore. Her preferred holes in the wall had been bought out, and now she just had Barnes and Noble to go to. Not bad in itself, but certainly not where she wanted to go first.

As she turns a corner though, the black-haired girl blinks. "What is that?" She speeds up a bit, not quite jogging towards the stage set up right in the center of this corner of the mall. Someone was up on it, trying to sing something she knew had at least seven different overlapping singers that also had differing lyrics at times. As her blue eyes take in the scene, and some people cheering on the singer, she hears a buzzer go off.

 **"Song synchronicity fell under 35%! Better luck next time!"** The young man curses the machine, putting the microphone back before stomping off the stage. A couple of others who were likely his 'bros' went to comfort and joke at him about his performance. According to Xion's memory, he'd been about halfway through that song. Well... if no one else was going up now, why not try herself? But what to pick...

 _"Reason fooorrr the lies..."_ Oh! There was a good one. Heh, thank you rando blondie on the road. It looked like the song picker didn't have anything set into memory and used YouTube. Well, that just made this so much easier! Uh... there were 4 members in it, right? Yeah! Thankfully, Xion didn't need to sing any differing lyrics, but there was a lot to do. But she'd manage!

She looks to the three other microphones that popped up from the stage as she gets into position with her own lead one. This was gonna rock people's worlds! Xion grinned as the music kicks on.

* * *

Roxas hums to himself as he walks through the mall. He had one place to go today: FYE was having a sale on some shows, and he wanted to see if they finally had that set of... What was that? Someone was singing a really bad cover of a song he didn't know, but at the least he could tell someone was messing up because they kept on jerking to a stop here and there. The blond wonders what was up with that as he goes.

As he turns a corner, keeping his eyes scanning for FYE, he hears a mechanical, female voice interrupt the singer after a buzzer. **"Song synchronicity fell under 35%! Better luck next time!"** Oof. That was harsh to announce it to everyone nearby.

Still, Roxas was a floor above it, so he didn't worry about it. ...dangit, why was there a barricade to the entrance of that store there? Now he'd have to go down the escalator and find the other one on the opposite side if he wanted to... he knew this song.

Looking to the stage that hadn't been there last week, Roxas blinks. "Didn't I almost run into her before?"

 _"Subete dato omoutteta chiisana sekai kara mieteru  
_ _Uso to hontou ga zenbu kousaku suru keshiki  
_ _Tsumarisou ni naru Weakness"_

Oh hey, he knew this one.

 _"Sorerashii ketoba dake narabenaide  
_ _Hora ne mata urayamu dake  
_ _Sore ja nani mo kawaranain ja nai?_

 _"Reason for the lies iiwake bakari shiterarenai  
_ _Reaching for the lights jibun ni uso hatsukenai  
_ _Shi to puraido nigirishimeta ryoute de tsuyoku tsukande"_

Wow, that girl had a good voice!

 _"Reason for the lies dare ni mo odora saretakunai  
_ _Reaching for the lights mada mada sagashiteru tochuu  
_ _Karamawari no renzoku demo kiyasume nante iranai dakara  
_ _Ki ga sumu made kakenukeru dake  
_ _A reason to be there!"_

Heh, now that was some cute dancing she did in the short break.

 _"Mahishita atarimae ni shoumou sarete yuku kankaku  
_ _Ikisugita yasashisa ni fuan wo kanjite wa  
_ _Oboresou ni naru Regrets~_

 _"Hoshii mono dake zenbu erabanaide  
_ _Futsugou wa mienai furi  
_ _Sore ja nani mo kawaranain ja nai?"_

...the sign said anyone could come up and join while a song was going on. And it looked like she was averaging a good score, but...

 _"Reason for the lies ari no mama wo kanjiteitai  
_ _Reaching for the lights kakushin wo himeta honne  
_ _Atsuku iki ga tsumarisou na mune ni kodou kizande"_

But she was already so far, and...

 _"Reason for the lies dare ka ni nante narikirenai  
_ _Reaching for the lights ookiku fukaku naru kokyuu  
_ _Kireigoto de gomakashitemo nattoku nante dekinai dakara  
_ _Fu ni ochiru made mukiau dake"_

 _"A reason to be there!"_

Huh. When'd he come up here? She looked surprised too. Still.

 _"Asu no iro wo kimeru no wa"  
"Dareka ja naku jibun dakara"  
_ _"Wakatta you na kaoshite-"  
"Toritsukurou hitsuyou nantenai kara~"_

They look to each other, and she grins while Roxas smiles back. A quick nod before they focus on singing again.

 _"Reason for the lies nomikomarete shimawanai you ni  
_ _Reaching for the lights nigiru te ni chikara komete  
_ _Hitotsu hitostu irozu iteku asu wo omoi egaite_

 _"Reason for the lies ari no mama wo kanjiteitai  
_ _Reaching for the lights kakushin wo himeta honne  
_ _Chigau keshiki mitsumitetemo shinpai nante iranai dakara  
_ _Ki ga sumu made kakenukeru dake  
_ _A reason to be there!"_

Roxas pants a bit before they look at each other again. She laughs a bit as the machine announces the synchronicity rate as **"77! Good job!"** before she moves forward to choose another song.

"Know this one?" She shows the pad with her current YouTube search results.

"...yeah. I can handle that one. I'd rather sing Believe, though." The girl laughs a bit at that. "What?"

"Let's see if we get kicked off or not for this one!" She grins at him again. "I'm Xion. Nice to meetcha!"

"Roxas. The pleasure's mine."


	3. Chapter 3

"Sobare so~ ni naru, Weakness~!" Xion sings to herself as she returns home. Hanging up her coat after locking the door and slipping off her shoes, the young woman dances a bit through the empty apartment. "A reason to be there!"

Plopping herself on the couch, she laughs some. That was fun! She'd need to call him up for some karaoke at some point. And who'd thought she'd be able to get a boy's number on the second meeting? Certainly not Xion herself! That was a lot of fun. It was a shame Namine was at school while her parents were both working. But hey, it gave her time to...

To what? Xion frowns as she remembers why she spent so much time out and about. Being a dropout, she didn't have a lot to do. And with no one hiring her for anything online, there wasn't a lot to do that filled up her schedule. Heck, browsing the internet and playing games at home got boring after some time, which is why she left in the first place.

Sure, there was a thing to get, but most of the time... Most of the time, Xion left the house to find something to do.

A smile splits her face as she remembers that something fun had happened. "Man, Namine's gonna be sooooo jealous! I'm gonna get a steady male friend before her~" Xion laughs again before turning on her side and reaching for the remote. What was on the news now, Televi-kun? ...a whole lotta bland. Well, it was better than nothing.

 _"...the merger with D.I.Z. brings his holdings up to..."_

* * *

Roxas hums a tune to himself as he walks out of the mall. He had his DVD set, a gift for mom, and dad was gonna be doing his 'I'm a good dad' dance because he got a present for her birthday two weeks in advance. "A reason to be there..."

As he brings out his phone to look at any notifications, the blonde leans on a wall. News, emails and spam, no to that drinking request, no to that blind date, definite no to that non-blind date... Roxas raises an eyebrow. Who sen-Xion! Right. She must've sent it right after leaving his side. He sends a quick hi back before putting his phone away. Rather late compared to his usual response time, but he was on a mission after parting ways.

Blue eyes take in the traffic as he starts to return home. He feels his phone buzz, but until he got onto the train, Roxas would leave it in his pocket.

* * *

Xion looks up from where she was writing up another version of her resume on her laptop to see her sister appear. "Hey, Namine. How was school?" The blonde groans, setting herself next to the black-haired girl. Their differing fashion senses were quite evident, as Xion was wearing black denim and a purple top, while Namine was in a white dress that some people thought was silk with how one could almost see what it hid.

"I'm thinking of giving up on him. I shouldn't be grading EVERY student. Just the ones that he knows are for sure going to pass!" The teacher's assistant rubs her face with her hands before lowering them. "...why're you shoving your phone i-who's Roxas?"

"I met him at the mall today! You know that new public karaoke contest thing they talked about on the news? I tried it out today. Lotta people tried, but apparently I and he were the first ones to actually succeed at it this week." Namine looks at her curiously. "Yeah, I know! Woulda thought someone else could do it. Anyway, _I_ managed to get a coupon card to that famires down the way! Two free entrees, but nothing for drinks or desserts. But we'll still save a few hundred with this." Xion grins. And the card didn't expire until the end of the year, so there was plenty of time to wait for their parents to be busy and unable to join them for dinner.

After all, Xion was an okay cook at home, but Namine... It was better if they didn't need to worry about it at least one night. This would make sure of that.

"Neat. Mom mailed me a bit ago, she and dad will be home for dinner. What're you doing?" The blonde leans into her sister. In short order, they're going over how to better sell Xion's skills with online programs. "When'd you learn how to use Photoshop?"

"Don't be surprised when I say I have had a LOT of free time the last couple years..." Xion looks at Namine deadpan for a second, the younger sister not amused by her elder's titters. In retaliation, she attacks the best way she knows how. "For this offense, your pipopepopunishment..."

Making her laugh harder!

"Is **tickled feet**!" Xion lunges to grasp the ticklish appendages. Sadly, Namine had more than enough reach to keep that from happening, let alone just keeping Xion from attacking her. Okay, so that wasn't working out. The stomach!

Kairi and Sora arrive home together an hour later, and see a blonde head sitting on the couch watching a medical drama. "Hi, dear. Where's your sister?"

"Hey, mom!" A slightly tanned hand comes up from a spot that the paler blonde would not be able to reach. "Is dad wit-hey, dad!"

"Daaaaad, she's using my lap as a foot rest again!"

"I told you, that is your own problem to fix. Until she manages to phase into your body, you can stop her." Sora grins as he gives his girls fist bumps before going to dress down. Kairi looks in the pantry for what to make tonight.

"Xion made a boyfriend today."

"No, I got a boy's number!"

"How is that different?"

"Please tell me it isn't that Seifer I've heard you both complaining about."

"Thank the gods, no! He is blond and blue-eyed though, name's Roxas!"

"When should I expect the grandkids?"

"MOM!"


	4. Chapter 4

Roxas looks up from his 3DS as his friends walk into their Usual Spot. Despite their names, Hayner, Pence and Olette were natives to Japan just like him. They just had grand/parents who were not, also just like him. "Hey guys. What took you so long?" The brunette grins a bit before bringing her hands around, showing off a cooler.

"We grabbed some ice candy on the way here! In the mood for some sea salt?"

"You know it!" Roxas grins as he puts his handheld system away before they all start talking and munching.

"Just can't wrap my head around that lesson."  
"Did you try making it work using this equation?"  
"I bet she's just doing that to make it harder on us."  
"This thing is impossible!"  
"Solved it."  
"BUT THAT SHOULDN...huh."  
"Hey, you guys hear about a new show coming on soon?"

"Depends. Is it something about mecha, a new variety show, or about something else we can't do?" Pence rolls his eyes a bit at Roxas while Hayner chuckles, Olette giving him a simple look like the blond with taller hair was being silly.

"I mean there's gonna be a new singing competition starting! Apparently, they're gonna be a strictly team-based show that's based on mashing up people with others. I know, it sounds crazy! But come on, don't you think it'd be a neat way to meet someone?" Pence grins at his friends, rather excited while they looked confused. But once they learn that he'd basically be using it as a blind date thing, Olette rolls her eyes while Hayner laughs at him, Roxas rubbing his chin in thought.

"...know what, Pence? I'll sign up with ya."

"What?!"  
"Roxas!"  
"REALLY?! YES!"

Pence did a little happy dance in his seat at having his friend with the better singing voice joining him. Hopefully he got lucky enough that they did get teamed up. And if not... maybe he'd meet a girl that didn't mind him being a little wider than most? That'd be nice.

Hayner just huffs. He had no real talent for music, despite being a fan of even more artists and bands than Roxas, so he was just going to stay out of it. Olette was trying to think of ways to help her friends come back from the inevitable sadness that would hit once they got sent home after the first show.

"When does it start?"

"Hang on a sec... starts recording in a week." Pence shows Roxas the email with the address, and the two boys make updates to their calendar so they know when to go.

"Well, with that outta the way, who won today?" The four friends all look at their sticks. They'd been talking so much they'd forgotten to check as they ate! ...as one, their heads went down. "Dang. Still no free snacks for a week."

* * *

Xion hums to herself as she walks into a studio with her sister. "Thanks for coming, Nami! I just know this'll make good memories for us all."

Namine smiles a bit. "If you say so. I don't get why mom and dad had to stay behind for all that, we're consenting adults. See anyone you think will be competition for us?" The blonde's oceanic eyes roam a bit, catching the strap to her white dress before it fell. She wasn't in danger of revealing anything, but it didn't hurt to look good and not like a stray breeze would remove your modesty.

Xion turns her own sky-blue eyes around, thinking. They were going to be taking part in a singing competition, and the random chance of getting teamed up with one or more people made it seem like an interesting time. But first, they'd need to actually be allowed in. That was probably what their parents were still listening to right now. "...no idols, no. So I think we'll manage."

Namine rolls her eyes. "Sure, sure. But we probably aren't gonna be on the same team, Xion. So I'm probably just gonna be in the audience for most of it." The blonde pats her sister's back, smiling. While she had the better sounding voice between them, Namine also had the bigger bouts of stage fright when it came to performing. But give her an easel and drawing supplies? She'd have had this in the bag.

Xion pouts at her smiling sister. "Fiiiiine. You be that way. I'M gonna go right to the top!"

"Oh really? And what's a lamer like you gonna do, some pop number about losing your boyfriend?"

The sisters look to the voice, finding... a short young man, barely their height, wearing a thick blue coat and yellow hat that both obscured his face. Xion couldn't help but wonder why he was wearing something so hot during summer. "...lamers? What are you, from 2001?" She crosses her arms. "And for your information, no! I'm not gonna sing anything like that."

The young man huffs at her words, turning to walk back to his corner. Namine blinks. "Did he really just... come over to call us lame? That is so petty."


End file.
